Why is it that getting first page exposure on Google feels a lot
like chasing Penguins?
On the face of it Penguins look like they’d be easy to catch.
They don’t seem like they run fast, in fact they just kind of waddle. Maybe you
hold out a nice little fish, the Penguin comes up to you and viola you catch
it. So as a business owner you may try this approach with getting first page
exposure on Google. You lay out your keywords and phrases (fish) on your web
page and after a couple of days you type them in but to your dismay, NO VIOLA.
Your page is still buried.
Naturally you must be using the wrong fish so you look at the
source code of your competitors who are getting that first page exposure. You
make the adjustments to your web page with what you now believe to be a better
blend of bait and a couple of days later when you check still NO VIOLA.
This is frustrating as a business owner. You know that each day
there are only a limited number of Penguins in your area to be caught and your
competition is filling their coffers with them. As a smart business owner
you know you’ll go broke focusing on the nuances of chasing Penguins while you
have a business to run so you decide to consult a professional Penguin hunter,
or as a lot of us call them an SEO expert.
Your expert Penguin hunter asks the most important questions
like “tell me what your ideal Penguin looks like?(which seems a little absurd
since most business owners think every Penguin caught is ideal, that is until
they catch a couple of bad ones). What is each of your ideal Penguins caught
worth to your business? What have you been doing to catch Penguins to this
point? Have you ever caught a bad Penguin and if so how did that affect your
business? How far around your location are you willing to go to catch your
ideal Penguin? Which of your competitors do you think has been doing the best
job at catching your Penguins? Do you have any better bait than your
competitors to offer your prospective Penguins?
So based on the information you provided your SEO expert tells
you, “Sure I can help you catch Penguins however it isn't easy and it isn't
going to be cheap.” The expert explains that just like getting
first page exposure on Google, Penguin hunting requires constant diligence and
an ongoing action plan. The Penguin is wet, oily and slippery so right when you
think you've got a hold of it, it slides out of your hands which is kind of
what dealing with Google’s daily algorithm changes feels like. So your expert
explains further that just like Google’s regular algorithm updates, what works
for you today may not work tomorrow and if you don’t keep on it you’ll be right
back where you started with your competitors catching all the Penguins.
Some good news about catching Penguins is the more you catch the
easier it is to attract new ones. You see, all the new Penguins see their
friends gathered around you and think, that must be where all the good eats
are. In many ways Google does the same thing, they see all the people
going to and referencing your site and figure these guys are relevant, have
credibility, and therefore must be safe.
With that said the most important thing any business owner can
do is focus on what you can control. Provide the best service and product
possible to every single customer and make sure all customer facing staff are
trained to do the same. Identity the people who are the best customers for your
offering, then focus all marketing efforts on them. If you're a high end
general contractor it doesn't make sense to spend marketing dollars on people
who will sacrifice quality for price. So don’t oversell, undersell, or try to
attract people who aren't a good fit for your offering as those are the people
most likely to be dissatisfied customers and write bad reviews and talk down
your business.
Catching Penguins consistently, just like getting on the first
page of Google for your keywords and phrases is most definitely best left to
the experts. It may not be simple or cheap but bringing in the right
customers who are most likely to become your word-of-mouth superstars is worth
it.
